Solidarity with London bus workers taking strike action today

From 3.00 BST today many of London’s bus workers on many of the major routes in and around London will be taking industrial action for the first tiem in many years. This is all over the failure of TFL and the bus companies to agree a Olympic bonus for the bus workers. Unite the union who is the major union in the London bus workers will be supporting its members across the capital today. I will be lending my supporta and solidarity with the workers who deserve a decent bonus for being made to work harder and longer hours during the Olympic games.
Bus workers from 17 companies will go-ahead with a 24-hour strike in London despite an injunction, a union said.
The Arriva, Metroline and Go Ahead firms applied for the court injunction, which was granted, and their workers have been told not to strike on Friday.
But union members at the other firms plan to walk out in a row over a £500 bonus for working during the Olympics.

Unite had called for the bonus to be paid to its20,000 members, in line with extra pay deals agreed with train companies.


The failure by the bus companies to negotiate seriously and their desire to run to the courts will only heighten tensions”
End Quote Peter Kavanagh Unite
The three companies who went to court account for 15-20% of London's bus routes, providing services in north-west and south London.

Unite's regional secretary for London, Peter Kavanagh, said: "Bus workers across the vast majority of London's bus network will be on strike tomorrow.
"This comes despite an injunction which was given without any proper explanation.
"Granting an injunction in the face of a massive vote for strike action is an affront to democracy. We will appeal [against] this anti-democratic decision."

BUS FIRMS AFFECTED
• London United
• London Sovereign
• Stagecoach East
• Stagecoach Rainham
• Stagecoach Selkent
• Arriva North
• Arriva South
• First Capital
• First Centre West
• London Central
• Abellio West
• Abellio South
• Metrobus
• Docklands
• Blue Triangle
• CT Plus
• Arriva Southern Counties

Talks between the bus operators and the union aimed at halting Friday's planned strike action broke down at the conciliation service Acas earlier.
On Wednesday the mayor announced that the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) had offered £8.3m in a bid to avert action.
Unite said it "cautiously welcomed" the offer. It blamed the failure of the talks at Acas on TfL's and bus operators' refusal to negotiate a meaningful settlement.
The £8.3m is in addition to £91m the ODA gave to TfL to cover the additional costs of running extra services during the Olympics, including bonus pay deals agreed with rail workers.
Deals have been announced giving workers at Heathrow Express £700, Network Rail £500, Docklands Light Railway £900, London Overground £600 and London Underground at least £850, Unite said.
Unite estimates it would cost £14m to provide a £500 bonus for every bus driver.

Fuel prices going through the roof

So i just come back from town with my mum in her car. We stopped at the petrol station on the way back. First time we have filled up post VAT rise. Now my mum doesnt have a gas guzzler by any means a 1.1 peogeot 107 very economical little car. does a lot of miles to the gallon normally. But today our fuel came in at £45. This is ridiculous coupled with the VAT rise and the price of fuel rocketing in recent weeks this is just outragous.

As i am not a driver or a motorist this doesnt affect me but i know this will affect many of you out there who do drive. For a large family with two cars possibly who are on a average to low income this fuel rise and VAT increase is going to cripple some families i feel.

What are beloved government doing about this shooting up of fuel ? nothing of course they are loving it as they can pull in more tax for themselves. Simply this is not on. With inflation going through the roof too in recent months this is just not helping people get on with their lives. I feel there is much more the government could and should be doing to put pressure on these fuel companies who are charging huge prices for fuel.

The oil companies in the world like BP and Shell are some of the worst offending capitailist companies i've ever known. The way they expolit their workers and the countries they drill in is just out of order. Cost cutting in the gulf of mexico to maintain high profit margins was found to have been the reason behind the huge oil disaster in the Gulf a year or so ago. This is just hugely irresponsible of these companies and they must be brought into line and properly regulated.

Back to my original point i feel this fuel hike and VAT will once again hit the poorest in our society the hardest. I dont buy this arguement that the rich will face more of the tax as they will be spending more. Wrong as if you are poor you have less disposable income in the first place so a rise in prices is always going to affect the people with less money the most. But once again this tory lead coalition see that attacking people on lower incomes as fair game.

Well lets see what happens in a month or so when fuel prices start reaching record highs and fuel protests start back again. Will the government then step in to help keep the country moving. Will be interesting to see how this one plays out.